Yo La Tengo Ready Their "Bravest Musical Statement"

Three years after the lengthily titled I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, well-seasoned indie rockers Yo La Tengo are coming back with a new album proper. Due out September 8 via Matador, the record dons the name Popular Songs and "could be the bravest musical statement to date in a career full of 'em," says the label, which is, however, guaranteed to be a little biased.

The LP was recorded in band's home base of Hoboken, NJ, and at some undisclosed location in Nashville earlier this year. It comes with the above image serving as its cover art, and long-time associate Roger Mountenot helped Yo La Tengo out on this one.

To cut and paste a bit more from the praising press release, "Popular Songs finds the trio of Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan and James McNew at the height of their creative powers, fashioning an epic work that's as cooly confident as it is wildly adventurous. Even for long-time followers of Yo La Tengo, the stylistic range encompassed on Popular Songs is startling; the band aren't merely conversant with rock and pop subgenres stretching into the double digits, but their unselfconscious mastery of such is simply uncanny."

A teaser track has already been lifted off the new record, and you can scoop that up here.